GeorgeWBuy

Halliburton exposed by Army official

2004-10-25T12:04:00.000-04:00

This appeared in the New York Times today:

"The top civilian contracting official for the Army Corps of Engineers, charging that the Army granted the Halliburton Company large contracts for work in Iraq and the Balkans without following rules designed to ensure competition and fair prices to the government, has called for a high-level investigation of what she described as threats to the 'integrity of the federal contracting program.'

"The official, Bunnatine H. Greenhouse, said that in at least one case she witnessed, Army officials inappropriately allowed representatives of Halliburton to sit in as they discussed the terms of a contract the company was set to receive."

With all the news on the missing 380 tons of explosives it won't get much play. But the evidence is clear: Cheney's Halliburton had the inside track all along.

Timken back in the news

2004-10-22T09:39:00.000-04:00

Bush is going to Timken Company in Canton, Ohio today, according to this report in the Plain-Dealer. There can be no doubt now that he's absolutely tone-deaf to workers concerns.

Here's what one response was from critics in the news:

"But critics say Timken and Bush broke one end of the bargain: The company got tax cuts, anti-dumping help and military contracts. It began building another plant in China its fourth as part of its growing presence in 27 countries.

"But the workers in Canton, where little of the military work is performed, were left to fight for their jobs. The company, though profitable, says employee costs at those plants are too high.

"'Timken is benefiting from tax breaks and from contracts at the same time they're moving jobs away from America,' said Kathy Roeder, a spokeswoman for John Kerry's presidential campaign. 'That concept is out of whack.'"

Campaign Money Watch's Special Interest Spotlight (now on hiatus) covered this earlier this year, not just once, but twice. W.R. Timken, the company's CEO, is a major Bush and Republican Party fundraisier/contributor.

Another Halliburton Rip-Off

2004-10-22T09:14:00.000-04:00

From Reuters coverage of Wall Street Journal report, appearing in the Houston Chronicle (got that?):

"The U.S. Army is laying the groundwork to let Halliburton Co., keep several billion dollars paid for work in Iraq that Pentagon auditors say is questionable or unsupported by proper documentation, the Wall Street Journal reported today. ...

"The newspaper, citing the documents and internal memorandums, said that officials are considering using the estimate to serve as the basis for "an equitable settlement," under which the Pentagon could drop many of the claims its auditors have made against the company.

"But the Journal added that some disgruntled Pentagon officials see the effort to broker an outside settlement with the company as unusual because the contract is so large.

"According to the report, Kellogg Brown & Root so far has billed about $12 billion in Iraq, and about $3 billion of that remains disputed by government officials.

"The Journal also cited Pentagon records showing that $650 million in Halliburton billings are deemed questionable. An additional $2 billion is considered to have insufficient paperwork to justify the billing, the report said."

When will the fleecing end? When Cheney is back in the private sector?

"Values" TV ad on DeLay

2004-10-18T15:43:00.000-04:00

Go watch it.

Get it on the air.

Daily DeLay

2004-10-17T22:00:00.000-04:00

Another corrupt, pro-special interest politician, another blog.

Also visit THE DAILY DELAY.

Insurance company: If we don't pick the candidates, you'll get bad ones

2004-10-17T21:23:00.000-04:00

The Star-Tribune printed a research piece they've been working on for a while about the wheelings and dealings of UnitedHealth Group (the nation's largest insurer), its CEO (William McGuire) and its political donations.

They spoke to me a month or so ago, and I gave them this piece of the story on Health Savings Accounts, which UHG offers now that they bought up Golden Rule Insurance Company just a week and a few days before HSAs were expanded in the Medicare bill:

UnitedHealth has not only started selling such accounts, it has also chartered a bank called Exante Financial Services that can manage the 401(k)-like accounts from which individuals make withdrawals for health care expenditures.

"It's a tremendous windfall," said David Donnelly, the Boston-based director of an organization called Campaign Money Watch. "They put $500 million on the table and bought it up. The legislation was a policy that made that company worth much more."

Donnelly wrote a report this year for Campaign Money Watch that called the Golden Rule purchase "a lucrative acquisition" and questioned its timing.

UnitedHealth contributed $69,000 to 12 of the 17 members of the House-Senate conference committee that hammered out the final details of the Medicare law during a contentious two months last fall.

The company's response would be hilarious if it didn't expose how unsuited our campaign finance system is for a modern democracy:

"This is a democracy, and this is how it works," said Lois Quam, CEO of the Ovations division of UnitedHealth. "It's [William McGuire's] point of view that if good people don't go into public life, then bad people do."

So, Ms. Quam... I'm trying to figure out the logic of this whopper... If wealthy people don't select the people who can run and win elective office, we'll be left with "bad" people? So, we should feel grateful that the William McGuire's of the world own our politicians?

Nail "The Hammer"

2004-10-14T11:30:00.000-04:00

Tom DeLay is vulnerable in his district, and we decided to take him on. Working with other national groups, we will hold DeLay accountable for his egregious ethics violations.

Contribute to this campaign today: https://secure.ga3.org/03/DeLay.

We also need a name for the campaign. How about these?

Enough DeLay Already
Nail "The Hammer"
Dump DeLay
Act Without DeLay

Suggest your own. Second other nominations. Add your comments.

Misuse of taxpayer funds

2004-10-13T10:35:00.000-04:00

We're for public financing of campaigns with spending limits, but we're not for public financing of independent expenditure campaigns.

Is that a Corporation in Your Pocket?

2004-10-11T09:35:00.000-04:00

Sinclair Broadcasting, which caused a stir earlier this year by refursing to broadcast Ted Koppel's Nightline honoring those who died in Iraq, is at it again. Sinclair, whose executives overwhelmingly favor Republicans in their campaign donations, will run an anti-Kerry movie on its 62 TV stations, many of them in key battleground states, according to the LA Times yesterday.

Senator John McCain chastised the company back in April when they refused to run Nightline, writing in a letter to Sinclair CEO David Smith, "Your decision to deny your viewers an opportunity to be reminded of war's terrible costs, in all their heartbreaking detail, is a gross disservice to the public, and to the men and women of the United States Armed Forces. It is, in short, sir, unpatriotic. I hope it meets with the public opprobrium it most certainly deserves."

Media Matters has an advocacy campaign to take action.

Post-Debate Spin

2004-10-08T23:23:00.000-04:00

Karen Hughes just identified Wisconsin as a state the Bush campaign will fight to pick up.

Not if we can fight back. Here are our two ads:

Halliburton

Medicare

Bush's decisions

2004-10-08T22:30:00.000-04:00

Bush can't admit specific mistakes.

Limits mistakes to unnamed appointments.

Bush Owned by Timber Companies

2004-10-08T22:15:00.000-04:00

Bush seemed stumped by that one. What did Kerry mean? If he said it in a forest, would anyone have heard?

Anyway, Bush didn't know how to handle it: He's got no wit -- "Need some wood?" -- at least not one in this type of forum...

Weird.

Maybe Kerry ought to say Bush is owned by timber companies. Bush got $562,547 in 2004 and $298,500 in 2000 from timber interests. That's why Bush's Healthy Forest Initiative is masquerading as a front for clearcutting.

No Tree Left Standing.

UPDATE: So there's truth to it. Here's the FactCheck.org blurb from kos.

Recurring theme from VP debate

2004-10-08T22:08:00.000-04:00

Not showing up to vote.

Works well in House and Senate races, but here? Not sure.

Some more stuff on jobs, LOCALIZE!!!

2004-10-08T22:07:00.000-04:00

This study.

And this post.

Kerry's answer on the enviroment

2004-10-08T22:04:00.000-04:00

Theme is that Bush takes us wrong direction, takes us backwards, refuses science. Not dirty air leads to kids having asthma, while energy companies give millions and Bush does their biddign.Do we really care about "Kyoto" or do we care about our kids? Our seniors?

Bush a good steward of the enviroment?

2004-10-08T22:02:00.000-04:00

Amazing he says this stuff with (almost) a straight face. Why doesn't Kerry knock this one?

Kerry's Answer on Prescription Drugs

2004-10-08T21:43:00.000-04:00

Missed the punchline. Kerry's gotta provide the evidence. Not just say Bush sides with the powerful. Give the facts: Drug money to Bush. Bush gives billions to drug makers. That's simple.

Prescription Drug Question: Our President on Drug (Money)

2004-10-08T21:40:00.000-04:00

Reimportation of prescription drugs was blocked because he got millions in campaign cash from pharmaceutical corporate interests. Period. The discount cards mean that the seniors get the cards and the drug companies get the profits.

Announcing ads in WI

2004-10-06T14:55:00.000-04:00

Here's our press release:

CAMPAIGN MONEY WATCH LAUNCHES NEW AD IN WISCONSIN CRITICIZING BUSH/CHENEY ON HALLIBURTON’S CONTRACTS

Ad running in three critical Wisconsin media markets

Provides answers Cheney refused to discuss in televised debate

On the heels of last night’s Vice Presidential debate, Campaign Money Watch began airing a television ad sharply criticizing the connections between Vice President Dick Cheney, his former corporation, Halliburton, and the Bush Administration’s decision to give the oil and military services giant a no-bid, multi-billion dollar contract in Iraq. The ad is airing in three media markets across Wisconsin.

“George Bush and Dick Cheney have their heads in the sand if they think they can divert America’s attention away from the serious facts regarding Cheney’s $20 million bonus from Halliburton, the on-going compensation worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the no-bid, multi-billion dollar contract the Bush White House handed to Halliburton for services in Iraq,” said David Donnelly, director of Campaign Money Watch.

“Voters have a right to know why a corporation that can’t account for $1.8 billion in taxpayer funds was the right corporation for the government to give a contract without any competitive process,” continued Donnelly. “That’s a scandal that cannot be hidden from the voters. To have the Vice President of the United States, who was the CEO of Halliburton for five years, refuse to address it forthrightly in last night’s debate added insult to injury.”

The Halliburton TV ad, which can be seen at http://www.campaignmoney.org, is the second wave of advertising Campaign Money Watch has done in Wisconsin. The reform group aired a hard-hitting spot attacking the special interest giveaways in Bush’s Medicare plan.

The new ad is airing in the Green Bay/Appleton, La Crosse/Eau Claire, and Wausau/Rhinelander media markets. The Medicare TV ad also continues to run in the Wausau/Rhinelander market. Campaign Money Watch has spent $475,000 in Wisconsin to air these ads so far.

Campaign Money Watch holds politicians accountable to the public for the special favors they do for their big money backers.

###

Wrap Up

2004-10-05T22:56:00.000-04:00

Maybe a draw, maybe Cheney did slightly better than Edwards. Does it matter? It does to activists who are going out to knock on doors, hand out literature, make phone calls, etc.

Edwards could have really made the charges stick on jobs, health care, Medicare, tax policy, etc. by backing them up with specific details about Bush/Cheney's funding. That's when you put Bush and Cheney into the box of being typical politicians. And the money gives the reason why Bush and Cheney pursue policies.

Bottom line: Edwards could have done better and could have really pinned much more to Bush/Cheney, by using Halliburton and other special interest deals more effectively.

Time to tell the Halliburton story

2004-10-05T22:39:00.000-04:00

Cheney refused to engage on Halliburton. We're gonna tell the story with this ad in Wisconsin. Starting tomorrow. In three media markets. Go watch the ad and make a donation to keep it on the air.

Here's the reply for Medicare

2004-10-05T22:34:00.000-04:00

Watch.

Frustrated

2004-10-05T22:08:00.000-04:00

Edwards walks up to the water's edge but doesn't dive in, saying that the Bush-Cheney Administration has catered to drug companies and insurance companies, but not quite saying why.

Trial lawyer response

2004-10-05T22:00:00.000-04:00

Got off on good foot -- put himself on side of kids and families against HMOs, insurance companies, and drug corporations.

Finishes well with story-telling.

Bush/Cheney plan on taxes

2004-10-05T21:58:00.000-04:00

Reward. The. Well. Off. Who. Give. Us. Money. Period.

And sign a tax cut package described this way by the Washington Post:

"While Bush talked mostly about benefits for individual taxpayers, the biggest chunk of the package, about $13 billion, will go to businesses to help fund research and development."

Job loss in Ohio

2004-10-05T21:49:00.000-04:00

Here's what we've done on job loss and outsourcing earlier this year in OH:

Timken

Invacare

Smoke screen?!?

2004-10-05T21:41:00.000-04:00

Cheney refuses to engage.

Halliburton and Iran

2004-10-05T21:36:00.000-04:00

First direct question. Not tough. Not about him or how he benefits. Let's see if Edwards can bring it back to the real point on Cheney's millions.

Sparks

2004-10-05T21:31:00.000-04:00

If someone throws a hard-hitting charge about Halliburton into this spark-filled debate we could see some real flames.

Keep it simple, stupid

2004-10-05T21:27:00.001-04:00

I think Edwards is making the case too complicated.

First mention...

2004-10-05T21:27:00.000-04:00

$7.5 billion of $87 billion for no-bid contract for Iraq... interesting. . is the strategy for explaining the $87 billion vote to point at the money going to Halliburton?

Halliburton Accounting

2004-10-05T21:21:00.000-04:00

Sitting at a conference in San Francisco watching the VP debate...Journalist Dan Gillmor just quipped that Dick Cheney's explanation of the billions supposedly flowing into Iraq from other countries, "That sounds like Halliburton accounting."

Twenty minutes in and still no mention, however.

10 minute mark

2004-10-05T21:12:00.000-04:00

And there's still no mention of Halliburton.

Participate

2004-10-05T21:00:00.000-04:00

Share your thoughts and reactions about the debate in the comment area below -- remember to hit refresh every few minutes or so to catch the latest.

H-A-L-L-I-B-U-R-T-O-N

2004-10-05T20:59:00.000-04:00

They came out and are writing notes. Edwards is writing Halliburton Halliburton Halliburton Halliburton.

Suggest a question

2004-10-05T15:41:00.000-04:00

Will Gwen Ifill, moderator for tonight's VP debate between Dick Cheney and John Edwards, ask Cheney about Halliburton?

What will she ask?

What should she ask? Suggest a question by posting below.

Guide to watching the debate from HalliburtonWatch

2004-10-05T11:59:00.000-04:00

HalliburtonWatch provided this user-friendly guide to watching tonight's debate between former Halliburton CEO and current Vice President Dick Cheney and U.S. Senator John Edwards.

Send an email to debate moderator Gwen Ifill to ensure that Cheney gets asked direct questions about Halliburton.

Boston Globe, Part III

2004-10-05T09:19:00.000-04:00

Here is Part III of the Boston Globe's series on special interest influence in Washington. The title, "Medicare bill a study in D.C. spoils system," is tame compared to what really went down. The piece, by Christopher Rowland, is an exhaustive review of the lobbying particularly around funding for teaching, community and rural hospitals. But it is a little light on the long and substantial investments in campaign cash from the insurance and pharamceutical industries. Still worth a read.

Boston Globe's series on special interest money

2004-10-04T16:13:00.000-04:00

The Boston Globe today has the second part of a three part series on the influence of special interests in Washington. Susan Milligan, the lead Globe reporter on this, did an incredibly thorough job.

[A few months back I provided a little bit of background information for the report.]

Read yesterday's Part I (an overview), and today's Part II (on the energy bill).

I'll post Part III when it comes out tomorrow.

South Florida Sun-Sentinel: Donors to GOP & Bushes donors get windfall

2004-10-03T11:51:00.000-04:00

In Sunday's South Florida Sun-Sentinel:

GOP contributors set to reap benefits from Scripps deal

When Gov. Jeb Bush announced in October 2003 he had lured The Scripps Research Institute to Palm Beach County with more than $300 million in public money, he touted it as an economic boon to Floridians.

But before taxpayers see a return on the investment, among those who could benefit most from the Scripps Florida windfall are those who have donated thousands to the Republican Party and GOP candidates and have ties to the Bushes. ... [read whole article]

Yesterday's Wisconsin radio story about our ads

2004-10-01T20:40:00.000-04:00

Here's the blurb and audio link from Wisconsin Public Radio about our advertising.

Pharmaceutical Money Accepted Prior to Medicare Bill Passage
9/30/04
An independent political group (not regulated by campaign finance laws) is criticizing President Bush for money he took from drug companies prior to passage of the Medicare bill. The ads by Campaign Money Watch are running in a part of Wisconsin that is among the most hotly contested areas in the nation. Shamane Mills reports...running time 1:57
Listen to this story now using RealPlayer

Debate Action: Call on Ifill to Ask Cheney About Halliburton

2004-10-01T13:17:00.000-04:00

We launched an advocacy campaign today to call on Gwen Ifill of PBS, who is moderating the VP debate between Cheney and Edwards next Tuesday, to ask tough questions of Cheney regarding Halliburton.

Take Action.

Here are the three questions we want Ifill to ask Cheney:

1. What can you say to the American people tonight to reassure them that your past and on-going financial relationship with Halliburton had nothing to do with the special treatment it has received from the Bush Administration?

2. Do you believe your former company, in light of the audit showing that Halliburton can't account for $1.8 billion in taxpayer money, was really the best company to be given a no-bid, multi-billion dollar contract?

3. Regarding the awarding of this no-bid contract, what did you know and when did you know it? Did you or anyone associated with you intervene or lobby on Halliburton's behalf?

Who won?

2004-09-30T22:59:00.000-04:00

Who do you think won?

On the debate

2004-09-30T22:23:00.000-04:00

The debate was almost entirely on foreign policy, as advertised. Very little mention of Halliburton. Very little discussion of of what President Eisenhower called the military-industrial complex -- even with today's endorsement of Kerry by Ike's son. Did Kerry fail to really put Bush on the defensive?

Appearances:

Bush's cadence was slower, better, than Kerry's. If undecideds were listening more than watching than Bush did well. His body language wasn't good, but he came across as upset rather than warm. If people wanted substance, Kerry won.

Time for the post-debate spin. Who win will the debate spin, and therefore win the debate?

Media stations

2004-09-30T22:15:00.000-04:00

All the media stations controled by Putin -- Just like here! Media consolidation is a growth market, I guess.

Amazing this guy can keep a straight face

2004-09-30T22:13:00.000-04:00

He is talking about promoting democracy?

Guarding Oil Ministry?

2004-09-30T21:28:00.000-04:00

The only building guarded in Baghdad was the oil ministry.

I guess it's about priorities.

Chemical Insecurity

2004-09-30T21:19:00.000-04:00

Kerry is hitting a stride... That's right -- How about some "Homeland Security" of chemical plants, rather than watered down protections?

Go see Public Campaign's OUCH on it.

Chemical industry poured money in -- I can't post the picture, so go see it at the link above.

Debate in on!

2004-09-30T21:00:00.000-04:00

Debate is on. How long will it be until someone mentions Halliburton?

Billion dollars spent

2004-09-30T20:46:00.000-04:00

One thing that strikes me as this debate is about to begin... There's already been a billion dollars spent on this race already. Between 10% and 20% are still unsure exactly who they will vote for, even as they lean one direction.

Open Thread

2004-09-30T18:47:00.000-04:00

Post a pre-debate comment below.

What questions would you like to ask Bush? Kerry?
What don't you think they'll talk about that they should?

Remember -- after the debate starts, hit refresh to get the latest comments and posts. Invite others to join us.

Debate about the debate

2004-09-30T13:04:00.000-04:00

I'll be posting tonight in a running commentary or analysis about the debate starting around 8:30 p.m. eastern time. Please post comments (if your computer and TV can be in the same room) with your reactions, thoughts, questions, etc. You can be a pundit for a night.

Invite others to join us, too.

(Helpful hint for tonight: Starting at about 9:00 tonight, hit the refresh button on your browser to keep up with the recent comments and new posts.)

Halliburton is the tip, the big tip, of the iceberg

2004-09-30T11:55:00.000-04:00

Check out this new report called "Outsourcing the Pentagon" from the Center for Public Integrity. Forty percent of the Pentagon's contracts were awarded "no-bid."

Washington Post writes it up. And NPR covers it. So does the New York Times.

Think Bush will talk about this in tonight's debate?

Food and terrorism

2004-09-30T11:32:00.000-04:00

Here's a story from the Washington Post which will get lost in all the debate coverage:

A few years ago, Congress passed and President Bush signed the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002. According to the Washington Post, it "requires companies importing food to give advance notice to the Food and Drug Administration about arriving shipments and to keep records of where the food came from and where it is going."

Sounds sensible. We ought to have some way to track shipments of food to ensure public health, right?

Initial regulations issued in the spring of 2003 by the FDA were tough, according to citizen and consumer groups. But they got watered down in the final draft issued in October 2003. Additional provisions have not been finalized or released yet, even though FDA was given only 18 months to finish. What happened?

Money and influence peddling, that's what.

Ten lobbyists representing grocery chains, big tobacco, meat processors, and the like met with Bush Administration regulators.

Then, Bush raised money from big agri-business and CEOs of supermarket empires, like Ranger Steven Burd from Safeway, who locked out union workers earlier this year in California. Burd's raised more than $200,000 for Bush.

"The rich dodge and you pay"

2004-09-28T11:55:00.000-04:00

Read the latest from Public Campaign's OUCH!, a special Corruption Perception Index on the impact of big money on tax policies... it's a "who wins and who loses" built off President Bush's statement on August 28, 2004, in Troy, OH:

"Every time they say tax the rich, the rich dodge and you pay."

If you like it, sign up to receive regular OUCH! bulletins here.

[Fundraising update: We crossed the $5,000 goal reaching $5,590 to help keep our Medicare ad on the air in Wisconsin. That buys an extra day on cable in one market. Way to go! Keep the momentum going...]

Who's naughty and nice

2004-09-27T15:20:00.000-04:00

"Do Not Open Before the Presidential Election" is the title of today's NYT story on new regulations or rollbacks the Bush Administration is holding until after the election. The list, I am sure, is nowhere near this short.

One example that the Times highlights is the Food and Drug Administration's slow down of regulations regarding what can be considered in animal feed -- an effort to block the spread of mad cow disease. The meat industry's number one recipient of campaign cash is President Bush, and the National Cattlemen's Beef Association broke its nonpartisan stance to endorse Bush this year.

"I love those cattlemen!" Bush told the president of the Association at a White House Christmas party, according to the association’s newsletter.

527 Giving: Ideology or Investment?

2004-09-25T10:02:00.000-04:00

Today's New York Times has side-by-side articles on 527s and the impending ad campaign:

"New Pet Cause for the Rich: Swaying the Election" by Glen Justice

"Advocacy Groups Step Up Costly Battle of Ads" by Justice and Jim Rutenberg

First, a disclaimer: Campaign Money Watch is a 527. We are the only 527
with the purpose of holding elected officials accountable for opposing campaign
finance reform and for the special favors they do for wealthy contributors.

These two articles basically can be summed up like this: Wealthy individuals are pouring in massive amounts to 527s and are largely motivated by ideology, and that money is now being poured into massive ad buys in swing states.

So what's new? The scale. The stakes. McCain-Feingold.

But the story about the funders (the one where reporter Justice goes solo) didn't explore the reality behind his best on-the-record quote. Agnes Varis, who gave $1.5 million to the Joint Victory Campaign, a collaborative fundraising committee, said, "I'm not going to get a Halliburton contract." Another progressive donor, Susie Tompkins Buell, who is "not entirely happy with how the campaign finance system is emerging."

You don't find that ambivalence in giving money through 527s on the right. That's because, by giving to committees to get Bush elected, conservative business donors are in a win-win situation. They see a confluence of ideology and economic self-interest. And that's the way it is for many of the people who gave Bush $260 million.

Here's an example: T. Boone Pickens is "a Texas oilman who gained fame as a corporate takeover artist, has contributed $2.5 million to the Progress for America Voter Fund and $500,000 to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth." Pickens can say he gave for ideological reasons until the cows come home, but he can't deny that he stands to financially benefit from policies of another Bush term. With a net worth of $750 million, do you think Pickens has got more than a passing interest in Bush's tax proposals?

All this makes me wonder whether we're missing the larger picture with our fixation on the biggest donors. Don't get me wrong, regulations of 527s, including Campaign Money Watch, is probably necessary. Certainly we read in the Rutenberg/Justice piece we now know we will be under a tidal wave of this self-interested 527 giving to slam Kerry and lift up Bush. It's definitely time to hold on to the railing.

But the real scandal in American politics is not what is illegal or claimed to be illegal; it is the legal scandal of private, wealthy interests currying favor with big campaign contributions for their private economic self-interest. It is the use of government contracts and policies to line your friends' pockets. It's the bundles of money tracked by who brought it in, kinda like Amway (and notice in Justice's story how the co-founders of Amway are also pouring in money to pro-Bush committees) or like Santa Claus, checking to see who is naughty or nice.

What is needed is what is already law in several states, like Maine and Arizona. A system of comprehensive public financing allows voters to take back their democracy from wealthy interests.

Debate advice for Kerry

2004-09-24T15:09:00.000-04:00

David Sirota of Center for American Progress penned an solid column for the American Prospect of ten things Kerry ought to do in the upcoming debate. It's worth a read, especially #7, which is as follows:

7. Connect Bush's money to his decisions. Polls show that the public knows Bush is closely aligned with big business. Yet unless those ties are connected to specific policy decisions, Americans seem willing to accept that reality as just another staple of modern politics. That is why when Kerry discusses Bush's record, he must detail who Bush was paying back when he made decisions. $7.5 million from Wall Street, for example, bought a weak corporate-reform bill and a lax attitude toward offenders like Enron; $5 million from the health-care industry bought a Medicare bill that weakens the program while enriching the HMOs and big drug companies; $2 million from the energy industry bought an energy bill that would give away billions in new tax credits to oil companies (already fleecing billions from skyrocketing gas prices). The list goes on. The point is for Kerry to be very specific about cause and effect.

Sound familiar?

Welcome Bush to Wisconsin

2004-09-24T14:16:00.000-04:00

We've raised $4,940 from 110 people to help run our hard-hitting ad linking Bush's fundraising to the paybacks the insurance and drug companies got in the Medicare bill. The ad is already up in Wisconsin, and President Bush visits the state today. Send a welcome to him by helping us smash our goal of $5,000 to extend the ad buy in the Badger State!

Just about captures it.

2004-09-23T16:24:00.000-04:00

Reuters has a look at how fed up African-American voters are with Bush, particualrly his big money agenda:

They catch this from people on the street in north Philadelphia:

"Bush has got to go," said Elton Bryant, a Temple University worker who paused to talk on a recent afternoon. "All that man is doing is taking care of his business cronies."

"I don't think Bush worries about poor people, the Republican Party has a lot of money -- that is what he cares about," [Elaine] Williams [a former nurse] said.

Keep the ball rolling (and the ad running!)

2004-09-23T13:45:00.000-04:00

So far, our "Bush Got His" ad is attracting a solid stream of on-line donations. As of 12:00 ET today, people have contributed $3,312 to help deepen/extend this advertising buy in Wisconsin. Can you help us get to $5,000?

If you've already donated, or can't afford to at this moment, help us another way: Use our Tell-A-Friend page.

Sneak Preview: New CMW Ads to run in Wisconsin on Thursday

2004-09-21T13:39:00.000-04:00

Click on the image below to watch the latest ad from Campaign Money Watch, or visit our homepage.

It will run in two media markets in Wisconsin starting Thursday, with a pretty heavy buy. Whaddya think?

An ignominious record. May it never be broken.

2004-09-21T08:56:00.000-04:00

The numbers are in. Bush raised a record $259 million in private donations -- for his uncontested primary. He broke his own record of $101 million set in 2000.

What could that $259 million buy?

So since this is GeorgeWBuy after all, I went looking on eBay.

Turns out $259 million goes a long ways on eBay, as Dick Cheney knows.

You could buy 52,323,232 "debating John Kerry and George W. Bush" toys, or 15,199,530 George W. Bush jack-in-the-boxes (better hurry on the jack-in-the-box).

But what did the money buy instead?

Policies galore. Medicare. No-bid contracts. Tax policy. Environmental degradation.

Missouri CEOs: Outsource Jobs then "Insource" Money to Bush

2004-09-20T09:33:00.000-04:00

Kudos to John Hickey and the Missouri Citizen Education Fund. They conducted, in my opinion, a politically potent study on outsourcing jobs and campaign contributions. Here's a summary:

Executives and members of boards of directors of Missouri companies outsourcing jobs favor Bush over Kerry in their political contributions. It makes sense: Kerry's position is to close off-shore tax loopholes for some of these companies, and the Bush Administration has all but praised the practice of sending jobs overseas.

The study is nonpartisan. It tells a pretty clear story of what people in the Midwest are facing everyday: the threat of job layoffs while they watch the most expensive presidential race in history.

The report was released over Labor Day weekend and got some press. The Columbia Missourian had a great headline:

"CEOs who outsource Missouri jobs back Bush"

Need we say more?

Not a reformer

2004-09-18T09:25:00.000-04:00

While Bush was raising $1.5 million for the Republican Party yesterday in Charlotte, NC, Bush's campaign filed their second lawsuit alleging violations of campaign finance laws by independent groups yesterday.

Hard to take Bush seriously on reform given the fact the Bush himself is responsible for the implosion of the presidential public financing system and has raised close to $500 million (by Micah's count) in hard money.

This legal strategy is going nowhere. But politically, Bush is trying to shield himself against being attacked as the big money candidate.

Happy 52nd, Deirdre

2004-09-17T13:00:00.000-04:00

Someone just posted the following:

Finding out about this website this morning made turning 52 so much sweeter. Thank you - Deirdre the birthday person

Everyone join me in wishing Deirdre a happy birthday!

Kerry ads on Halliburton and Medicare

2004-09-17T11:15:00.000-04:00

This is eery. Kerry is launching two new ads:

Following our ad buy, Kerry's campaign will criticize Cheney for the White House giving his former company, Halliburton, a no-bid, multi-billion contract. See Campaign Money Watch's Halliburton spot here.

The second responds to Bush's attack on health care and calls Bush's Medicare plan a giveaway to big drug campanies. The Washington Post does an ad watch on it. Campaign Money Watch will be up next week with a Medicare spot of our own, though much more direct and hard-hitting than this one. More on that later.

(In the meantime, if you want to support our ads, make a donation to Campaign Money Watch.)

Just what the HMOs ordered

2004-09-16T13:03:00.000-04:00

President Bush is traveling through Minnesota today talking about health care and national security. According to AP, at a stop in St. Cloud, MN, Bush criticized Kerry's health care plan as big-government. Bush's health care, however, is just what the doctors ... and the insurance companies and HMOs ($5.2 million), and the pharmaceutical corporations ($1.4 million), and the other assorted health care lobbyists... ordered.

Just take one Minnesota executive, UnitedHealth Group CEO William McGuire. He raised at least $100,000 for President Bush's campaign. UnitedHealth won out big time in the Medicare plan Bush pushed through. They purchased -- with $500,000,000 cash on the table -- Golden Rule Insurance company just days before the Medicare bill came out of conference committee last November. A provision to expand health savings accounts -- a staple of Golden Rule -- was resurrected in negotiations. That provision is worth $6.4 billion in tax-free accounts.

Then UnitedHealth got one of those confusing Medicare "discount prescription card" contracts... cards that don't guarantee discounts.

Think Bush is mentioning McGuire or UnitedHealth today in his comments on health care?

White House sold on eBay

2004-09-15T17:11:00.000-04:00

Here is my quick op-ed on Alternet.org on Cheney's comments last week regarding eBay. Let me know what you think.

What Cheney Really Means

2004-09-15T13:20:00.000-04:00

Dick Cheney's remark that official government statistics don't show the true health of the economy because, for example, they don't count the 400,000 people selling stuff on eBay, "a source that didn't even exist 10 years ago," obviously inspired us , in part, to launch this site along with GeorgeWBuy.com. We're tired of the auctioning of government policy to the highest bidders.

But if you stop and think about what Cheney is really saying, what you get is even more chilling. As Francis Volpe, a writer for The Sentinel (Carlisle, PA), points out in this sharp essay, "what Cheney is really talking about is counting the underground economy when we gather statistics." Volpe then puts this in context:

The underground economy is always with us, but my guess is that more people participate in it when real jobs are scarce. The harder it is to earn a paycheck, the more likely it is that people will peddle their junk instead of putting it out to the curb.

When they run out of Cabbage Patch Dolls and baseball card collections, they'll have to put their more valuable possessions up for sale to make ends meet. Like the computer they were using to post auctions on eBay. And so on down the economic ladder.

No doubt some folks do OK working the Internet auctions, although my experience has been that people who spend a lot of time on those sites end up spending as much -- or more -- than they earn. That's a pastime, not a profession.

And professions are what the job creation statistics tell us are trickling away rather than multiplying. The 144,000 jobs created last month were barely enough to cover population growth, let alone put any of the unemployed back to work.

So it occurs to me that the real argument to be made in this election is whether the next administration's employment policies will require Americans to periodically liquidate their possessions to keep up with rising prices.

Of course, Cheney doesn't have such worries. He's still drawing a check from Halliburton, while helping it get multi-billion no-bid contracts!

Bush got his. Insurance companies got theirs. You?

2004-09-15T10:01:00.000-04:00

Here's the first paragraph from a story in today's New York Times:

The Bush administration came out Tuesday in opposition to Democratic proposals to hold down the scheduled 17 percent increase in Medicare premiums next year, saying that a one-year freeze would lead to much higher premiums in 2006.

A part of that 17% hike -- 15% of it -- is due to Bush's Medicare plan's subsidies to HMOs and insurance companies. The issue shouldn't be, let's put off premium increases. We should be asking, Why did insurance companies and HMOs get $12 billion in incentives to lure seniors into managed care, privatized Medicare? And why did they get another $6+ billion in tax-free 'health savings accounts' long pushed by ultra-conservative GOP donor J. Patrick Rooney of Golden Rule Insurance, now a subsidiary of United Health (read more about that one here)? Both special interest giveaways drive premiums up.

A one-word answer: MONEY.

The insurance/HMO/managed care industry has funnelled $5.2 million to Bush since 1999.

UPDATE: WhiteHouseForSale.org has this to add: By their count, Bush 'Rangers' and 'Pioneers' from the health care industry have bundled $4.5 million. Any way you slice it, it adds up to corruption, plain and simple.

Jacking Up Margins

2004-09-13T23:25:00.000-04:00

More on Halliburton. Of the $4.3 billion in Halliburton's contracts reviewed by a Department of Defense audit, there was $1.8 billion Halliburton couldn't account for. That's 41.9% for those of you keeping track at home. Amazing. Our tax dollars, hard at work! Doing what?!?

Interestingly, soon after we began the ads, the DoD announced it was breaking up the remaining $7.5 billion in contracts into six separate contracts and putting them out to competitive bid. They didn't prohibit Halliburton from bidding, but the Chairman and CEO of the oil services giant, David Lesar told analysts in New York that if they did put in a bid, it would "jack up the margins significantly."

Not a peep about this from the White House, especially from Cheney, who has been paid more than $500,000 by Halliburton since becoming VP.

First ads; more to come.

2004-09-13T23:09:00.000-04:00

Campaign Money Watch's first ads are up. They're running in Oregon and Colorado, and focus on Bush/Cheney giving a multi-billion, no-bid contract to Cheney's former company, Halliburton. More coming next week. Stay tuned.

Brooks' Blind Spot

2004-09-13T17:28:00.000-04:00

David Brooks, New York Times columnist, had a column on Saturday ("Ruling Class War") where he tried to prove that the real difference between Kerry supporters and Bush supporters were the former like paragraphs and the latter like spreadsheets. Hence, he used data from the Center for Responsive Politics showing that professors and writers are donating to Kerry in large numbers, while CEOs and accountants love Bush.

The odd thing about his argument is that he purports to show a new class divide from this data. Well, here are some facts that Brooks left out (drawn from Is That a Politician in Your Pocket? Washington on $2 Million a Day):

Half or more of the workers in some fifty occupations are paid poverty-level wages. And these folks don’t make many campaign contributions--unlike the people Brooks focuses on.

For example, some 3.4 million people make a living as cashiers, but FEC records show only 23 contributions from cashiers reported in the current 2003-04 election cycle. Of the nearly half a million people employed as dishwashers, FEC filings show just one contribution from a donor identified as such. Of the more than two million janitors, maids and cleaners, whose median income in 2002 of $8.77 an hour, barely enough to lift a family of four out of poverty, just 68 campaign contributions of $200 or more listed that occupation.

That's the real class divide.